There is no doubt that quantum physics embodies mind-blowing concepts that force us to question the very nature of reality. And if there’s a contender for our current best “theory of everything” then quantum mechanics wins hands down.

But, far too often, the word “quantum” signals the worst type of vacuous pseudoscientific gobbledegook. It’s exploited by those who are entirely clueless about the underlying physics -- or, worse, should know better -- to evoke a misplaced mysticism about the ‘holistic’ nature of the universe. Moreover, when consciousness and quantum collide, the nonsense factor goes through the roof…

Philip Moriarty will aim to tease out the science from the mysticism and show that while quantum physics certainly has its weird and wacky aspects, it’s at heart a theory of waves. That means we can very often easily interpret what’s happening at the quantum level in terms of the everyday world around us – he’ll take a look at what coffee cups, drums, and a SlinkyTM can tell us about the broader nature of the universe (and Deepak Chopra’s place in it).

How do we best teach children to have a sceptical and questioning attitude? Can pupils learn everything they need to know from first principles? Are there some things they just need to take on trust? If pupils do need to depend on authority, how can we also teach them to be sceptical of authority? And what does scientific evidence have to tell us about this – how do we think and learn, and is it even possible to teach critical thinking and scepticism?

Bonus Talk from PubhD at 21:00

Lexi Earl (Education) is a final year PhD in the School of Education. Her research explores food experiences in primary schools and focuses in particular on how policies are taken up in schools. She examines how food-related topics like obesity and ‘foodieness’ are adopted within the school setting, and how this affects the kinds of human beings we can become. She blogs about cake and the PhD experience at Philosophy and Madeleines.

The NHS & Beyond

Homeopathy is one of the most widely debunked form of alternative medicine – yet homeopathic remedies adorn the shelves of respected pharmacies and are funded by taxpayers on the NHS. How big of a problem is this?

Using information and personal experiences gathered during his last 6 years of campaigning against homeopathy, Michael Marshall will highlight how much money is spent on homeopathic remedies, how this gives undeserved credibility to homeopathy, how such remedies can lead to genuine harm and what you can do to help.

Professor Sophie Scott is the Welcome Trust Senior Fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London researching the neuroscience of voices, speech and laughter. Oh, and she's an occasional standup too!

In this talk Sophie will look at some of the problems with the Brain Sex theory of brain organisation, and also address some of the conceptual issues people run into when they try to develop brain based theories of sexuality.

A previous PubhD speaker will tell us about their research for 10 minutes followed by a 20 minute Q&A. The speaker is Mark Iliffe who is researching mapping in developing countries and how to create better services using that data.

Skeptic, comedian and voice of the Skeptics Guide To The Universe, Iszi Lawrence returns to Nottingham Skeptics in the Pub with her new show The Z List Dead List. The Z List Dead List is a live comedy show about obscure people from History. As a skeptic, Iszi has found a few that will peak your interest. Expect woo, violence, sex and death. And a competition. The show is also a podcast with guest interviews from Jon Ronson, Griff Rhys Jones, Natalie Haynes, Neil Denny, Richard Herring etc. You can find it on iTunes at itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-z-list-dead-list/id915778702?mt=2 or go to the website www.zlistdeadlist.com

The ability to understand data and evidence is becoming increasingly important in today’s data-driven world. This talk discusses some elements of statistical literacy and what are the key questions to ask when presented with data and evidence.

During this talk Jenny will provide a brief overview of why it is important that we all start to think more statistically, illustrated by some recent, and not so recent examples, and by the end you will be just a little clearer on what are the key questions that you should ask when presented with statistics. You should be more confident and less bamboozled than when we started.

Jenny is an associate professor of Medical Statistics at the University of Leeds, and currently Vice President of the Royal Statistical Society with responsibility for the External Affairs brief. For most of her working life Jenny has been an academic statistician, with the exception of time out to study for a degree in Embroidery at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Jenny graduated with a BSc in Economics (Statistics) from the London School of Economics, and an MSc in Medical Statistics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. For her PhD she worked on the 1990 child growth reference centiles for UK children (the ones in the red book given to all new parents). She really enjoy communicating with people about statistics and over the years has received several awards for my teaching, including two Senate Awards from the University of Sheffield and the Keith Boddy Prize from the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine for the best educational article in their Journal, SCOPE.

Andrew Copson is the Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association. Andrew became Chief Executive in January 2010 after five years coordinating the BHA's education and public affairs work. His writing on humanist and secularist issues has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Times and New Statesman as well as in various journals and he has represented the BHA and Humanism extensively on television news on BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky, as well as on television programmes such as Newsnight, The Daily Politics and The Big Questions. He has also appeared on radio on programmes from Today, Sunday, The World at One, The Last Word and Beyond Belief on the BBC, to local and national commercial radio stations.

Martin Gardner (1914-2010) (www.martingardner.org) was The Best Friend Mathematics Ever Had, and for many is best known for his "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American, which ran from the 1950s to the 1980s, introducing hundreds of thousands of readers to elegant ideas which still inspire "Aha!" moments today.

Martin's first loves, however, were magic, rationality and philosophy, and his favourite targets were pseudoscience and bogus science and medicine. He was first and foremost a debunker, and his book "Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science" from 1952 set the stage modern science-based skepticism. Martin later played a major role in the founding of CSICOP and "Skeptical Inquirer" magazine.

His death five years ago ended a remarkable publishing career spanning 80 years, and over 100 books. October marked his centennial, and this is a good time to survey some of what he achieved and the legacy he leaves behind.

He was fortunate to know Martin Gardner for the last decade of his life, and chairs the Martin Gardner Centennial Committee. His website is cardcolm.org and he tweets at @CardColm. He recently published the 380-page full-colour book "Mathematical Card Magic" (CRC Press) of original principles and effects.

Scientology has been described in the States as “ruthless, litigious and lucrative” and in this country as “corrupt, sinister and dangerous”, yet it boasts global success and has made hundreds of millions of dollars.
Thanks to the Internet, it now faces an unprecedented global opposition. The scary secrets of Scientology and its recruitment methods will be exposed in this talk. It will be useful for anyone wanting to set up their own lucrative cult.

Martin Poulter first encountered skepticism while a teenager. He has a Philosophy and Psychology degree from Oxford University and a PhD in Philosophy of Science from the University of Bristol. He has been a Scientology-watcher since 1995, when he was threatened with legal action over material he posted online. He is an ordained minister in the Church of the SubGenius, which offers eternal spiritual salvation or triple your money back.

Over the last three years, the Nightingale Collaboration has given the Advertising Standards Authority possibly their most difficult challenge: curbing the misleading claims made on complementary and alternative therapy websites. But as a result, many practitioners have realised their responsibilities and taken down long lists of 'what homeopathy can help with...', 'how craniosacral therapy can cure your baby's colic', etc, etc. Some, however, continue to defy the regulator.

The Nightingale Collaboration have been using other regulators as well, eg the medicines regulator, the MHRA, to ensure manufacturers, sellers and advertisers of homeopathic and herbal medicines comply with the rules, regulations and laws they are supposed to, and Trading Standard to make complaints about claims for cancer treatments.

Alan Henness, one of the directors of the Nightingale Collaboration, will talk about what they've been up to and their future plans.

Maybe it was an asteroid impact, a nuclear war, or a viral pandemic. Whatever the cause, the world as we know it is over and humanity must start again. What would you need to know to not only survive in the immediate aftermath, but avert another Dark Ages and accelerate the rebooting of civilisation from scratch? The Knowledge is a grand thought experiment on the behind-the-scenes fundamentals of how our world works, and what drove the progression of civilisation over the centuries.

The Modern Face of Physiognomy

The notion that one can judge a person’s character on the basis of their facial appearance is an idea that dates back to the ancient Greeks and for a short period, the practice of physiognomy was considered scientific. Despite the fact that this ancient practice has long been discredited, the idea that one can “read” a person’s character simply by looking at their face still persists within folk psychology. In fact, this belief and our natural tendency to judge people on the basis of facial appearance has a surprisingly pervasive effect on all of our lives.

In this talk Kathryn Ford will look at the modern face of physiognomy trying to answer questions such as; why do we judge people as soon as we see them? How accurate are these judgements? And does facial appearance effect how people are treated within the criminal justice system?

Warning: This talk will involve some discussion of rape.

Kathryn Ford received a BSc in Neuroscience and Psychology from Keele University in 2011 and an MSc in Evolutionary Psychology from Brunel University in 2012.